E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Githongo Answers Karua

The Kenyan people deserve to know that the statement attributed to Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua and published in yesterday's newspaper that I refused to cooperate with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission in the Anglo Leasing investigations and refused to authenticate my statement are unequivocally untrue.

For the record, let me categorically state that Ms Karua is flatly wrong and I can only speculate on the basis of her intervention on behalf of Kacc, which is an autonomous Commission, or how and why she would be privy to its investigations. Before speaking out of turn, Ms Karua should have asked me to detail the extent of my cooperation with Kacc if this matter was important to her and in pursuit of natural justice. In refuting the allegations, I am obliged to explain the sequence of events to avoid any misunderstanding and to pre-empt any attempt to misrepresent any facts.

I have done everything possible to assist Mr Justice Aaron Ringera, the director of the Kacc, in the investigations into the Anglo- Leasing scandals. For the avoidance of doubt, I want to layout the history of my assistance and cooperation with Ringera and Kacc. I also wish to state my unequivocal contention that neither Ringera nor the Government of President Mwai Kibaki have shown any serious interest in pursuing the perpetrators of the scandal. Rather than look for red herrings and scapegoats, Karua, Ringera and the Kibaki Government - all of whom are aware of the perpetrators - are better advised to zealously investigate this matter and bring to book those culpable as soon as possible.

Since December last year, I have cooperated with Kacc in four major ways in the Anglo Leasing investigations. First, in December, 2005, I sent Ringera the report I had prepared on the Anglo Leasing affair with my signed cover letter. I spoke to him on phone and he confirmed receipt. A similar report had been made available to the President in November, 2005. I sent the report to President Kibaki first since it is he that I reported directly to in my previous capacity as Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in the Office of the President. I sent the report to Ringera because he is the officer mandated under the Kenyan law to investigate and make recommendations for action by the Attorney-General.

Second, at the request of Ringera, Prof Makau Mutua, my legal advisor, and I prepared detailed responses to questions that Kacc had put to me before I appeared before Ringera and senior Kacc officials at the Kenya High Commission in London, United Kingdom, last March. Mutua and I had duly signed the document containing the responses. Third, in the extensive one-and-half-day appearance before Ringera and Kacc, I provided them with extremely detailed oral responses to their questions. Ringera has even acknowledged in writing that I was very helpful to Kacc in that appearance. Again for the avoidance of doubt and at my express insistence, Ringera had made arrangements together with the Kenya High Commission to have our entire appearance before the Kacc audio recorded.

In those sessions, I provided Ringera with all the information they had requested and more. I believe that we gave him the most complete accounting of what I knew about the scandals. The Kacc officials who had accompanied Ringera - Dr J. P. Mutonyi and Mr Hussein Were - not only recorded the sessions on tape, but also took copious notes.

However, much to my surprise, Ringera later informed me that for some unknown reason, the taping system had failed to record the proceedings. I took this news with incredulity as it had been our common intention to have a detailed recording of the entire event to avoid the kind of distractions and misinformation Kenyans are now being subjected to by the minister in charge of Justice. On the morning of the second day of my London sessions before Kacc, Ringera and his officials produced the statement they had written overnight after the first day of my appearance before them. They claimed that the statement was a true reflection of what I had told them. They asked me to read and sign the statement.

Mutua and I categorically told Ringera and his officials that it was neither necessary nor prudent, as a legal matter, for me to accept as mine a statement that the Kace had written. On the advice of my legal counsel, I declined to sign the statement. Instead, I told Ringera that I would revisit the statement that Mutua and I had prepared in response to their questions, sign it and spnd it to him. I later revisited that statement in light of the investigations, signed it and sent it to Ringera.

Fourth, the evidence I gave at my appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in London last February is part of the Hansard and available to Ringera and the Kacc. I believe Kacc reports to Parliament and the PAC's recommendations were clear. In addition, I have provided Ringera witll every piece of information to the fullest detail that he has ever requested of me. I have made available to him relevant documents and audiotapes that I have authenticated, signed or given under oath to help in Kacc's investigations.

Further more, I have offered to continue to help Ringera in every way I can in the investigations. I remain eager and willing to do so. But there is a final aspect of which I have a duty to inform Kenyans and which in light of recent events throws into specific question Ringera's - and the Government's - commitment to hold accountable those responsible for the Anglo-Leasing scandals.

While in London in March for Kacc hearings, Ringera told Mutua and I that we should drop our pursuit of the perpetrators of the Anglo Leasing scandals because, as he put it, "the culprits had already suffered enough". Were and Mutonyi were present in the room when Ringera offered this advice. Later, Ringera pulled Mutua and I aside and told us that there would be no Anglo- Leasing prosecutions until after the elections in 2008, if ever. He also warned us not to underestimate the "pain that you have caused certain people". I am dismayed and disappointed by a statement reportedly made by Karua and the inordinate length of time the Government is taking to deal with what are serious matters in our democracy.

In my view, these are not the sentiments that one should expect from the top Government official charged with fighting corruption nor the way in which Government business should be. conducted. It seems clear to me that the Government is looking for any pretext to kill the Anglo- Leasing investigations. Unfortunately, this event will not just. fade away and I remain duty-bound to help in its resolution.

- The writer, a former PS of Governance and Ethics, is now senior associate member St Antony's Colkge, Nord University, in the United Kingdom